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Notes : Andrew Morgan was born in Somerset in 1942. Originally training as an actor at RADA Morgan decided to pursue a directing career after landing a job as an assistant floor manager at the BBC. He completed an internal directors course and his first job was on Sutherlands Law. Further credits include Secret Army, Blake's Seven, Swallows and Amazons, Casualty, The Famous Five (1995) and two fondly remembered Sylvester McCoy Dr Who adventures - Time And The Rani and Remembrance Of The Daleks.
Notes : Occasionally credited as Micheal J Kerrigan the directors other credits include Dr Who (Battlefield), Dramarama (The Universe Downstairs), The Famous Five (1995) and The Phoenix And The Carpet (1997).
Notes : Apart from playing the renegades Roj Blake in Blake's Seven and Shem in Star Maidens Gareth Thomas's more obscure credits include an uncredited "blink and you miss 'em" role as a workman in the Hammer film version of Quatermass And The Pit. He was active in TV roles from the late 70's / early 60's with appearances in Parkins Patch (1969-1970), Public Eye, Sutherlands Law and Children Of The Stones. Post Blake's Seven Thomas has guest starred in shows diverse as Hammer House Of Horror (Visitor From The Grave), Boon, Heartbeat and the remake of Randall And Hopkirk.
Notes : John Woodvine was born in 1929 in County Durham. The Shakespearean Geordie actor has such a raft of credits that there's only space for a selection of his more notable roles: Crane, Dangerman, The Avengers (3 times), Ghost Squad, R3, The Saint, The Baron, The Champions, Dr Who, Edge of Darkness. A rare appearance as a series regular came as Detective Chief Superintendent John Kingdom in the first three seasons of New Scotland Yard.
Notes : As well as being a talented screenwriter Julian Fellowes has recently been seen playing Kilwillie in the popular Sunday evening BBC drama series Monarch Of The Glen.
Notes : Clare Parker, who portrayed Julia, also appeared in the Film Four production The Fruit Machine (1988).
Notes : George Winter made his debut in Scum (1977) and had a run of small supporting roles before playing Gervase. He later went onto star in the mini series The Bretts (1987) and Merlin Of The Crystal Cave (1992).
Notes : Shirley Stelfox, who played Beth, has been a regular in three soap operas - Brookside as Madge Richmond (1986-1987), Shirley Henderson in Coronation Street (1993-1994) and Edna Birch in Emmerdale. She also notched up an appearance in Eastenders as Jane Healey (1999).
Notes : Knights Of God was Nigel Stock's last role. With a raft of credits stretching back to the 1930's Stock was born in 1919 and passed away in 1986.
Notes : Born in 1932 Don Henderson died in 1997 after a long battle with cancer. He is well remembered for his career defining role as DS George Bulman in The XYY Man (1976), Strangers (1978) and Bulman (1985).
Notes : Born in 1939 Peter Childs (who played Tyrell) career took in such shows as Public Eye, The Sweeney, Blake's Seven (Cygnus Alpha), Dr Who (Mark Of The Rani) and finally in Press Gang (1989) shortly before his death.
Notes : Owen Teale (Dai) came fresh from essaying the character of Maldak in the Colin Baker Dr Who adventure Vengeance On Varos.
TX : 6th November 1987 Notes : On broadcast two of the programmes main stars had died - Nigel Stock and Patrick Troughton.
All episodes where written by Richard Cooper. Andrew Morgan directed episodes 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12 and 13. Micheal Kerrigan was director on episodes 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11. |
 Set in a civil war devastated Britain in the year 2020 this big budget and ambitious adventure epic was actually filmed in 1985, but was shelved for other a year due to its pessimistic and grim tone. ITV bosses felt that the scheduled Sunday tea time slot could potentially upset a family audience, but the critics took a different tone - the programme just wasn't very good. Britian has been ravaged by a non-nuclear war, with in the poorer people of the North opposed to the rich in the South. After the war is finished out of the ashes arises a new regime known as the Knights of God who rule the country ruthlessly and with absolute control. London has been demolished and Winchester is now the capital of the country. But in Wales and Yorkshire a growing resistance movement is ready to take on the Knights of God. The series began when Controller of Programmes at TVS, Anna Holme, challenged the writer Richard Cooper to come up with a tough story for children, but featuring primarily an adult cast. Cooper was concerned about the rise of groups who used their religion to attack others, often violently. Cooper was also aware of giving the series too much of a futuristic edge so did not include any of the usual sci-fi cliches such as robots and laser guns, sticking to recognisable technology and hardware instead. He also took inspiration from the legends of King Arthur, giving many of the characters names based upon them. John Dale, who had previously worked on the Saturday morning children's show No.73, was appointed producer to oversee the mammoth 20 week production schedule. Five weeks were spent on location in Wales alone, with further work taking in Southampton and the New Forest. Experienced directors Andrew Morgan and Michael Kerrigan shared the directing duties between them with Morgan responsible for seven episodes and Kerrigan the remaining six. By all accounts the shooting schedule was especially hectic and exhausting on location. One particularly difficult and costly scene involved a stuntwork. Dale describes the situation: "One of the biggest stunts was turning a Landrover 360 degrees in the air before crashing down a cliff into a river...we couldn't trun the bloody thing over! We tried eight times and eventually we just blew the thing to smithereens which was very spectacular; they did a three-quarter turn and crashed it into the river. I was terrified because it was costing us about three grand per minute and we had oxy-actylene men under the water, ambulances on standby." Some further editing was required just before transmission. Actor Nigel Stock had died in between filming and broadcast. On screen his character, Simon, is confronted by one of the Knights with the line "What use are you to me - old, sick, near to death?" It was decided by Dale that this line should be snipped out of respect to Stock. The music for the series was provided by musicians from both the BBC Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchrestras. Casting was a shared decision between the directors and producer, but even with a cast of over 50 characters - cramming in such thespian luminaries such as Gareth Thomas, Patrick Troughton, John Woodvine, Don Henderson, Nigel Stock, Tenniel Evans and Frank Middlemass - the series was not a success and received a critical damming. |